That was Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor John Skrzynski's mantra during his closing statements last week as he urged the jury to find 22-year-old Jeffrey Pyne guilty of the first-degree murder of his mother, Ruth Pyne, 51.

"I wasn't there to protect my wife when I needed to be," said Bernard as he left the courthouse Tuesday. "And I wasn't able to get my son — first of all, I believe in my son's innocence — and I wasn't able to get him home with his sister for Christmas.

"It has not been a good year."

As Judge Leo Bowman asked each of the individual jurors their verdict decision, Jeffrey Pyne, wearing a navy suit and plaid tie, shook his head back and forth.

Bernard Pyne said he's "surprised" by the jury's ruling and dreads having to tell Julia Pyne, 12, her big brother isn't coming home for the holidays.

Bernard Pyne speaks to the media after watching his son convicted of second-degree murder.Gus Burns | MLive Detroit

"I don't believe my son would ever harm his mother," said Bernard Pyne. "I believe there were other suspects that were never looked at."

Pyne faces up to life in prison. It is up to the judge's discretion what his minimum sentence will be.

Back inside the courtroom after the jury had been dismissed and Judge Bowman had left the bench, Ruth Pyne's sister

Linda Jarviegave a brief statement.

"Ruth was a victim," she said. "She was not the monster the media portrayed her to be."

During trial testimony it was revealed that Ruth Pyne suffered from mental illness, was sometimes aggressive, having attacked Jeffrey Pyne on at least one prior occasion in 2010, and often refused her stabilizing medications, calling them "sorcery and witchcraft."

Holly Freeman, Jeffrey Pyne's 23-year-old girlfriend, said Ruth Pyne had developed paranoia and began collecting knives which she kept behind the headboard of her bed."

"Some justice was served by the guilty verdict today," Jarvie said. "I am deeply saddened by my sister Ruth's senseless death. This was a heinous crime. Ruth was a victim."

Prior to the verdict reading, Bernard Pyne, wore a blue-collared shirt and seemed tense, sometimes looking down with his eyes shut. He has stood by his son attesting to his innocence throughout the trial. To his right were his mother and sister.

He has now lost his wife and son. Jeffrey Pyne is scheduled to be sentenced at 3 p.m. on Jan. 29.

Pyne is convicted of beating his mother with a blunt object, possibly a 2-by-4, and stabbing her in the neck 16 times.

The jury was given an option of convicting Pyne of first-degree murder, which carries a life sentence, or second-degree murder, which carries a sentence of up to life at the judge's discretion.

Ruth Pyne's blood was discovered on a faucet in the laundry room, but forensic scientists have no way to determine how long the blood had been there.

Ruth Pyne fell near an ajar door in the garage, her hand wedged beneath, but there was no sign that the killer left through that door, no blood on the doorknob or footprints. The front door of the home was locked and nothing of value had been stolen.

If the killer didn't leave through the garage, said Skrzynski, it must have been someone with a key, likely her son.

Witnesses found Pyne's reaction to his mother's slaying odd. One EMT worker said it was like he was "putting on a show."

A board was missing from the family's garage, Bernard Pyne told police after the slaying. Medical examiners testified that board could have been the object used to beat Pyne.

Bernard Pyne and many other family members continue to stand behind Jeffrey Pyne and refuse to believe the former high school valedictorian, University of Michigan student and generally well-liked, responsible young man was capable of killing his mother.